Benjamin Tompson

Benjamin Tompson (1642 – April 13, 1714) poet, author, educator and physician from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who is widely considered by historians as the "first native-born poet in America". He is also noted for his poems and writings involving King Philip's War and related conflicts between the colonies and Massachusett Indian Nations in 17th-century southern Massachusetts. In the aftermath of Indian attacks and the burning of entire towns and churches, Tompson saw this as an occasion to memorialize the tragic loses incurred in the conflicts through poetry and other writings in the hopes that it would also inspire other writers who were generally silent to take up the cause. His poem, Harvardine Quils, is the definitive example, directed at Harvard's scholars and other writers.

Family background Tompson was born on July 14, 1642, in what was then a part of Braintree. His parents were William Tompson and Abigail Tompson; Benjamin was the youngest of five children.

William was born in Lancashire county in 1596 or 1597; he likely attended the school in Winwick and knew Richard Mather who attended the same parish as he, and who had a great influence on William. William, a Puritan minister and the first pastor at Braintree, had emigrated from England in 1636. which eventually became the Roxbury Latin School. Among his students was Cotton Mather. Thereafter he returned to Braintree, presumably in 1704, remaining there until 1710. Throughout his adult life he practiced medicine as a physician and was also a disciplinary teacher. As an author and poet Tompson is credited for being the first American-born poet to emerge. Because the work involved an epic issue in New England it became one of the best sellers in England, where works by American writers were welcomed. When Tompson was able to find time not involved with his teaching he pursued his writing aspirations and taught himself the art of writing poetic verse, and was motivated more by his own enthusiasm than from the influence of other writers.

After years of co-existence between the colonists and local Indigenous nations, Tompson was deeply moved by the conflicts and destruction that erupted during King Philips War in 1675–1676. In an effort to memorialize the loss of life Tompson took to poetry, which he also employed as a means to get other writers to join in the effort to bring attention to matters. Historian Peter White maintains that with the outbreak of the war, Tompson saw himself as "the public, representative voice" of threatened Massachusetts, and that he "decided to declare himself spokesman, apologist, critic, war correspondent."

Tompson's works include New Englands Crisis, his most publicized work, a series of poems involving the troubles of King Philip's War, which included his definitive poem, Harvardine Quils. It was Tompson's appeal and a challenge to the writers of New England to join in the effort of memorializing the tragic losses.

The rights to the publication were bought by Boston's John Foster, who printed them in 1676; they are regarded as "the first collection of American poems to be printed in what is the American colonies". Also in 1676, Tompson wrote and published New-Englands tears for her present miseries, printed in London, discussing the cause of conflicts between colonists and Indigenous peoples.

Not long after the death and funeral of John Winthrope, a Puritan and once governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Tompson wrote a Funeral Tribute in his honor, which appeared in New-Englands Tears. (The text of the funeral tribute to Winthrope can be read in White, 1980, pp.) 109–110.

On June 1, 1699, Gabriel Bernon sold Tompson and wife Prudence his mansion with two and one-half acres in Roxbury for 110 pounds. Beginning in 1700 Thompson once again was teaching at the Free School in Roxbury, remaining there for the next three years. In 1704 he returned to Braintree and taught at the local school there, while also serving as the town clerk.

Historian Howard Hall believed that Tompson remained in Braintree until 1710, when old age compelled him to return to Roxbury where he lived with his sons, Benjamin, a saddler, and Philip, also a physician.

Final days and legacy Tompson died at his home in Roxbury on April 13, 1714, at the age of 71–72. His tombstone at the Eliot Burying Ground is inscribed with the following inscription: "Learned schoolmaster and physician and the renowned poet of New England".